ATLANTA — An employee of a non-profit organization for teachers was placed on administrative leave this week after a notorious far-right group known for its “sting” operations published a video in which he appears to confess to selling curriculum containing "critical race theory" to Cobb and Fulton schools.
Both metro Atlanta school districts have “no record of purchasing any service or product” from the organization or the individual, they said in identical statements to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“We remain focused on teaching all (Cobb and Fulton) students the state-approved curriculum,” they stated. “CRT is prohibited by the state and is not part of (the districts’) approved curriculum.”
Project Veritas published a video and accompanying story earlier this week about Quintin Bostic, an employee at the Teaching Lab, which is based in Washington, D.C. Teaching Lab is a nonprofit organization that provides professional learning to educators.
In the video, Bostic appears to say that he sold curriculum to the two school districts that contain critical race theory, without the districts knowing the contents. It was framed as diversity, equity and inclusion content, according to the video. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reached out to Bostic, but had not received a reply by the time of publication.
Teaching Lab stated the video was “deceptively produced and edited.”
“The views expressed by the employee in these recordings are not the views of Teaching Lab, and are inaccurate and regrettable,” the statement said.
Project Veritas is known for its sting operations, in which people mask their real identities to infiltrate political or media organizations, then record and publish private communications. Last year, the group was found liable by a federal jury for violating wiretapping laws and misrepresenting itself in an undercover effort to target Democratic political consultants. The group was planning to appeal the verdict, Reuters reported.
Critical race theory is an academic concept based on the idea that the country’s history of slavery and segregation has affected many parts of American society. It cites laws and economic practices adopted to limit Black-Americans’ economic and educational opportunities and citizenship and argues that racial discrimination is built into many institutions.
Conservative lawmakers in Georgia banned critical race theory and a list of similar concepts from being taught in schools last year, and established a complaint process for parents who were concerned about any potential violations of the law.
Public school leaders say the theory itself is not taught in K-12 classrooms, but critics say its tenets about systemic inequity have influenced teachers and curriculum. Some colleges and universities, particularly at the graduate level, use CRT principles in their coursework.
Teaching Lab said in a statement that critical race theory is not a part of its professional learning model, and it does not operate or distribute its materials in Georgia.
The Georgia Department of Education emphasized in a statement that attempts to “promote or push these ideologies in Georgia schools are illegal.”
“We are in communication with both school districts explicitly mentioned to verify whether the information in the video is accurate, and are working to ensure these materials have not been adopted in other districts,” the department said in a statement. “We will direct any district using these materials to discontinue their use.”
